PERTH, Australia — A warship with an aircraft black box detector was set to depart Australia today to join the search for the missing Malaysian jetliner, a day after ships plucked objects from the Indian Ocean. None were confirmed to be from the plane, leaving searchers with no sign of the jet more than three weeks after it disappeared.
Twenty-nine Chinese people, seeking answers from Malaysia’s government as to what happened to their relatives, arrived in Kuala Lumpur today, said Malaysia Airlines commercial director Hugh Dunleavy. Two-thirds of the 227 passengers aboard Flight 370 were Chinese, and their relatives have expressed deep frustration with Malaysian authorities since the plane went missing.
It will still take three to four days for the Australian navy ship, the Ocean Shield, to reach the search zone — an area roughly the size of Poland about 1,150 miles to the west of Australia.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which oversees the search, said the ship will be equipped with a black box detector — the U.S. Navy’s Towed Pinger Locator — and an unmanned underwater vehicle, as well as other acoustic detection equipment.
In Sydney, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott described the latest search as positive because “objects from the ocean,” are now being examined.
A Chinese Ilyushin IL-76 plane spotted three floating objects, which were white, red and orange, China’s official Xinhua News Agency said. The missing Boeing 777’s exterior was red, white, blue and gray.
Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said checks, including one by the FBI, had turned up no new information on the pilot’s home simulator.
“What I know is that there is nothing sinister from the simulators, but of course that will have to be confirmed by the chief of police,” he said.
Abbott also announced that the former Australian defense chief, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, will lead a new center in Perth to coordinate the international search effort.
The Joint Agency Coordination Center will work with key Australian government, state and international members, and provide a single contact point for families, including travel assistance and visa services, accommodation, interpreter services and counselling.
Newly analyzed satellite data shifted the search zone on Friday, raising expectations that searchers may be closer to getting physical evidence that the plane crashed into the Indian Ocean.
The new search area is closer to Perth than the previous one, with a flying time of 2 1/2 hours each way, allowing for five hours of search.
AMSA said 10 planes will join the search today. The first aircraft to leave the Perth air force base, a Chinese Ilyushin IL-76, was already over the area.
The Australian navy supply ship HMAS Success, which is to store any wreckage found, and three Chinese ships reached the search area Saturday. Six more ships will arrive Sunday, AMSA said.
There were light showers and low cloud in the area, but not enough to disrupt the search, AMSA said.
Dunleavy, the Malaysia Airlines director, said in Beijing the Chinese relatives flew to Kuala Lumpur on Sunday morning.
Steve Wang, a representative of some of the Chinese families in Beijing, said the relatives are demanding more answers because they were not satisfied by the responses Malaysian government representatives gave them in China.
“We have demanded that we meet with the prime minister and the transportation minister,” said Wang Chunjiang, whose younger brother, Wang Chunyong, was on Flight 370. “We have questions that we would like to ask them in person.”
If investigators can determine that the plane went down in the newly targeted search zone, recovery of its flight data and cockpit voice recorders could be complicated.
Much of the sea floor in the area is about 6,600 feet below the surface, but depths may reach up to 19,685 feet.
